Why Be Dull? Bernal Cutlery’s Japanese Whetstone Sharpening is Coming to Bi-Rite!

February 13th, 2012 by Kirsten

Bring us your knives this Sunday!

We’re so excited to bring a new service to our guests: knife sharpening right outside the door of the grocery store! We’re partnering with Kelly and Josh of Bernal Cutlery, a passionate duo with an artisan approach to the craft of sharpening knives. There’s no denying the golden rule of cooking well: having sharp knives will not only improve the texture of food in your recipes but also lessen the chances of cutting yourself (a dull blade is dangerous since it requires too much pressure to slice!). As Josh says, “knives reflect the evolution of our creative relationship with food and cooking,and through that, our relationship with the world that sustains us.” With the highest quality Japanese whetstone sharpening available on your way to or from the Market, there’s no excuse not to take advantage!

Here’s how it’s going down:

Bernal Cutlery will set up shop on the third Sunday of every month from 2-6 pm in front of the Market. We’re kicking off this Sunday February 19th.

Bring as many knives as you’d like to be sharpened

Knives will be sharpened on a first come, first served basis from 2-6 pm. Any knives not sharpened during that time will be taken back to their shop at 331 Cortland St in Bernal Heights, and you’ll be notified when your knives are ready for pickup at the shop. If you’d rather not venture to Bernal, and can do without your knives for a couple of weeks, they’ll bring them back to Bi-Rite the following month to hand them off to you.

Josh, Taka and Tag, Bernal Cutlery’s three craftsmen sharpeners, use Japanese Whetstone grinding techniques which result in edges that are sharper and longer lasting, and remove far less metal for less wear on the knife. Japanese whetstones not only are the preferred sharpening medium for fine Japanese knives but are superior for all types of cutlery. The three of them have tens of thousands of hours of experience in sharpening Japanese, French, and Western knives. More info is available on their website.

Even if you don’t have dull knives, we highly recommend stopping by to see the sharpeners at work; the rhythmic sound of knife on whetstone is therapeutic, as you can see in this video!